Flippin’ Cheese! Scotland’s first cheese restaurant.

CHEESE. Who doesn’t love it? I think that if I could get away with having cheese in some form for breakfast, lunch and dinner without rapidly expanding to the size of a house and clogging the majority of my main arteries, I absolutely would.

As a vegetarian, cheese is basically a staple part of my diet; pizza, pasta, sandwiches, you name it, it’s probably got cheese in it. Imagine my sheer, delirious delight when I heard that someone was finally making of my long standing, entrepreneurial pipe dreams come true, and all in my very own home city. A cheese restaurant was set to open in Aberdeen.

Well slap me with a mozzarella stick and call me Monterey Jack, I think I just died and went to a cheese lovers heaven!

That’s right my little cheddar loving cherubs, Flippin’ Cheese is here, and you’re going to want to visit it immediately.

Having been given a heads up by a fellow cheese lover that this magnificent place was set to open, I immediately stalked all social channels and began the mental countdown to the Restaurant’s opening, drooling over the mouth-watering teaser pics being posted each day. I hadn’t been this excited since Cheese Fest first came to Aberdeen, and let me tell you, I was bouncing off the walls like a rogue Babybel for weeks in the run up to that.

Flippin’ Cheese seats an impressive 70 guests on the ideally located Summer street, slap bang in the middle of town, and came to life after seeing outstanding success while trialling their menu on Deliveroo for several months previous to the opening.

When they announced that they were taking bookings for their opening weekend, unsurprisingly I was one of the first in line to snap up one of those tables and find out if it had lived up to my hopes and dreams.

Upon arrival, I had half expected a much more, well…cheesy environment..you know, super kitsch decor, cheese themed wall art, servers in yellow t-shirts with cheese hats strapped to their heads, that kind of thing. I was however pleasantly surprised to be met with a classy and understated interior without a novelty hat in sight. Tables were beginning to fill and the welcome was warm and enthusiastic.

Our friendly server (who could not have been more apologetic or accomodating!) explained that a few menu items were unavailable which was slightly disappointing as the fondue option that I had set my heart on was one of these, as was the parm cheese wheel which fresh pasta is cooked in. There was a feeling of the opening having been fairly rushed, hence why a few items hadn’t arrived yet, but we certainly weren’t stuck for choices as the rest of the menu was still seriously impressive!

Not only were we spoiled for choice when it came to grilled cheeses, mac & cheeses and everything else in between, but we were also given a separate menu of the twenty three gourmet cheeses (including five vegan cheeses!) available to choose from to add to your dishes, this was not going to be an easy decision!

It was fab to see local suppliers such as Devenick Dairy who produce one of my faves, ‘Fet Like’ featuring on this list, amongst a host of other incredible sounding options from around the world. The only issue was that while vegan cheeses were highlighted in yellow, the rest weren’t labelled as being veggie friendly or otherwise so we had to check with our server before ordering, but after giving this feedback to Flippin’ Cheese they got right on the case to make this change right away, much appreciated guys!

On to the food…

After a considerable amount of deliberation and changing our minds about six times, we finally ordered enough food to feed a small army – the choice was just too tough to settle for just one menu item! We ordered sharers and mains at the same time to make sure that each dish was given equal time to fill our bellies.

As we waited for our food and witnessed the giant wheel of freshly grilled Raclette pass us by and watched a gooey layer of thick melted cheese be scooped straight from the cheese on to nearby diners plates of potatoes and veg, we instantly regretted our decision not to order this! Nonetheless, we were super excited for our own choices to arrive, and we didn’t have long to wait.

The beer battered cheese curds had been high on my list since seeing them on Instagram, so these were a dead cert along with the pizza fries from the sharers list.

Beer battered cheese curds

Pizza fries

The cheese curds looked crisp and delicious, served with three dips including a phenomenal hot sauce for dipping. Unfortunately I think they had been just slightly overcooked as all of the cheese had leaked out of a couple leaving just the crisp shell, but the flavour of the ones that did still contain the cheesy goodness was fab, total comfort food!

The pizza fries were everything we wanted them to be, smothered in rich tomato sauce with a thick layer of tasty melted cheddar, along with a host of other veggie pizza toppings, these were definitely a hit.

Flippin’ Mac Daddy Goes Forraging

From the mains menu we went for our usual tactic of ordering two things that we both like to share. The idea with both of the mac & cheese and grilled cheese menus is that you choose from a long and delicious sounding list of different toppings, then choose one or two of the gourmet cheeses to add to it.

We went for the Flippin’ Mac Daddy goes forraging – signature creamy mac and cheese with sautéed garlic and fresh herb mushrooms., with added smoked Deeside cheese. I can confirm that there’s a reason this dish is called the daddy; this was some SERIOUSLY good mac and cheese. Rich creamy sauce, oozing with tangy cheese and flavour packed garlicky mushrooms. What a bloody triumph of a dish!

Flippin’ Veg Med gourmet grilled cheese

Added to this ridiculously calorific lineup was the Flippin’ veg med grilled cheese with added Gruyere and Fire and Nice vegan cheese. Crisp sourdough with bell peppers, onions and garlic, olives and herb mushrooms. Not realising that the dish came with fries, I was blown away by the sheer size of the plate of food that had just been presented to me! The photo really doesn’t do this justice guys, this was packed with flavour and well seasoned veg, and the blend of cheeses which quickly became lovely and melty was insanely good. The only problem with this was not being able to finish the grand portion!

All washed down with a couple of cold beers, this had been a meal fit for any cheese obsessed queen, and I left fit to burst and ready to be rolled home like a big fat wheel of cheese rolling down a hill.

We can’t wait to visit again and try out the rest of what Flippin’ Cheese has to offer with their ever evolving menu. Cheese fondue, I’m coming for you! Next time I’ll be sure to leave room for the highly anticipated cheesecake on offer too…